Biography of Dr. Radhakrishnan

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is one of the most loved people in India. He was a great philosopher and a great statesman. He got born on 5th September 1888 in Madras. He was the person who defended Hinduism against western thoughts, but he also made sure that some of the western thoughts are used in Indian culture as well.

Who Was Dr. Radhakrishnan

Dr. Radhakrishnan is one of the most known people in India; he was another guy he who got educated at the time when education didn’t get any importance.

He was a great philanthropist as well as he formed the Krishnarpan charitable trust along with Ghanshyam Das Birla and other, social workers. He represented India at UNESCO from 1947 to 1952. He got married to Sivakamu who was his cousin, and he got married at the age of 16 only. The couple went on to have five daughters and one son named Sarvepalli Gopal who gets known as for a great historian. Though he gets known as for a great philosopher, his career choice was never to learn philosophy, a friend’s notebook gave him the chance of learning philosophy which eventually went on to become his career. He got awarded with the Bharat Ratna in 1954.

His Achievements

Radhakrishnan was such a great human being that he thought about modernizing India and Indian people. He did it in such a way that Indians should not forget about their culture, but certain western countries’ thoughts should also get followed by the Indians due to which a lot of western civilization arrived in India.

He got appointed as Knight bachelor in 1931, but he ceased to use “Sir” after the independence of the country.

In 1961, he got the peace prize of German book trade.

He became the second president of India after Rajendra Prasad. In 1962, his students and his friends wanted to celebrate his birthday, and he replied that it would be great that the 5th of September gets celebrated as teachers’ day than his birthday. So, from 1962 onwards, 5th of September gets celebrated as teachers’ day all around the country.

He got nominated for the noble prize in the literature 16 times and got nominated for noble peace prize 11 times.

In 1975 he got the Templeton prize for conveying the message of a universal reality of God that loved all people equally. He donated that prize to Oxford University.

These were a few achievements of Dr. Radhakrishnan.

How He Helped in India’s Progress

He helped in India’s progress in several ways. Here are some of those ways:

He acted as a bridge between Indian civilization and western civilization due to which Indian culture became popular abroad, and some points got adopted by Indian people from western civilization.

Radhakrishnan was a great philosopher and a professor as well, his teachings are still getting followed by lots of teachers, and it can be said that teachers started getting respect because of Dr. Radhakrishnan only.

5th September

5th September gets celebrated as the teachers’ day in India.

As Dr. Radhakrishnan also worked as a professor, his students and friends wanted to celebrate his birthday when he became the president of India. In revert of it, he told that he would love if 5th September gets celebrated as teachers’ day in the country rather than his birthday.

From 1962, on teachers’ day, teachers are asked to take rest and students of senior classes act as teachers and teach junior classes.

Teachers get various kinds of gifts and flowers and huge respect from various students. All in all, teachers feel important on this specific day.

Conclusion

Dr. Radhakrishnan was a great human being, and he did his best to educate people in the best manner. He was a great President as well and worked as a President when Jawahar Lal Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Indira Gandhi was the Prime minister of India in a time span of 5 years from 1962 to 1967. He got criticized by a lot of people for bringing western civilization in India, but the same people would have blessed him for his deeds if they were alive today. He was a great professor, a great philosopher and a great President who worked for the betterment of Indian people and the country.